Sewing-machine guide.



G-S- GATCHELL. SEWING MACHINE GUIDE. APPLICATION mzo FEB. 13. new.

Patented Dec. 4%, 191?.

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GEOBGE S. GATGHELL, 0F ROSELLE PARK, NEVJ JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE SINGER, MANUFACTURING GOIVIPA "if, A CORPORATION OF NEW J ERSEY.

SEWING-MACHINE GUIDE.

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Application fi1ec1 February 13, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. GA'rcHnLL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Roselle Park, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing- Machine Guides, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements for presenting to seam-covering stitch-forming mechanism a seam formed by overlapping and stitching together the marginal portions of the two plies of fabric designed to be subsequently opened out to receive the covering seam for protecting the raw edges. The invention has for its object to facilitate the guiding of the work to the stitch-forming mechanism and the smoothing out and stretching of the fabric upon oppos1te sides of the initial uniting scam in advance of the covering stitch-forming mechanism.

lln its preferred form the improvement is applied to a cylinder-bed machine provided with longitudinally acting feeding mechanism and with stitch-forming mechanism comprising a plurality of reciprocating needles and loop-taking means cooperating therewith in laying a coveringthread between the same crosswise of the direction of feed. According to the present invention, the work-supporting means are p rovided with an open-topped seam-guiding channel adapted to receive the overlapped marginal portions of the fabric and having its delivery end or mouth flared outwardly and inclined backwardly and downwardly, in conjunction with a presser-foot having its toe portion flared and incllned correspondingly with the mouthof said channel to which it is opposed. lhe seam-guiding channel may be formed by means of laterally and reciprocally adjustable guideblocks secured upon the throat-plate or upon the end-cap of a cylinder-bed machine in advance of the stitch-forming mechanism, the throat-plate having preferably formed therein a longitudinal slot in register with the seam-guiding channel and terminating in an upwardly inclined groove extending beyond the needle apertures and beneath the forward end of a longitudinal groove or channel in the sole of the presser-foot extending from a point between the needle apertures to the rearwardend of the foot.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 1, 191% Serial No. SIB/1&8.

Heretofore it has been customary to pro vide a narrow channel in a member of or connected with the work-support to receive the overlapping marginal portions of the initially seamed fabric, and to provide the presser-foot with a depending rib or keel entering the crease in the face of the fabric at the seam for guiding the same, as represented for instance in the U. S. Patent to G. E. Molyneux, No. 1,011,473 of December 12, 1911. While such guiding means have proved effective for certain classes of work, in connection with thinner and softer varieties of knit-goods their use has not resulted in the production of a sufliciently flat seam, for the reason that the fullness drawn in at the initial seam by the action of the depending presser-foot rib in guiding the work to the stitch-for1ning mechanism was not disposed of before the penetration of the needles in the work, thereby retaining the superfluous material at the seam and producing a slight rib or projection which in some cases has been found objectionable.

According to the present improvement, not only are the opposed work-engaging faces of the throat-plate and resser-foot entirely flat at the stitching point, but the wedge-shaped nose of the resser-foot is adapted to serve as a smoothing and stretching element for the work by reason of the correspondingly flaring character of the mouth of the guide channel which holds the fabric at an inclination with the base ofthe throat-plate for engagement with the convergent smoothing faces of the presser-foot nose or toe-portion.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the forward portion of the cylinder-bed of a sewing machine provided with the present improvement, Fig. 2 a side elevation of the same with the throatplate in section and one of the guide-blocks removed, and Fig. 3 a plan of the same with the presserfoot omitted. Fig. 1 is a percylinder-bed constituting the Work-support isshown composed of the tubular body portion '1 and the removable cylindrical end cap 2 which normally incloses the looptaklng means cooperating with the needles 3 carried by the reciprocating needle-bar 4.

Thetop, of, the; cylinder-bed is recessed toreceive the arched throat-plate 5 having the flat work-supporting face- 6 which is pro-' vided With the usual feed-dog apertures 7, the, needle apertures 8 and intermediate tongue 9. The tongue 9 has in its face a groove 110 flared laterally and downwardly toward the front end of the machine and entering alongitudinal clearance slot 1 1 in the; body of the throateplate.

As represented in the drawings, the throat-plate has secured uponits forward end by screws 12 the spaced guide-blocks 13 with their parallel adjacent edges-1a affordthe side-walls of an open-topped seamgniding groove or channel directed toward the space between the needle apertures 8 andin ali ement with the groove 10. The work-delivery portions 15 of the walls 1% are inclined divergently, backwardly and downwardly to ieet the fiat face 6 of'the tlrroat-plate at an obtuse an le, and the guide-blocks are adj ustable-toward and from each other by reason of the transversely elongated apertures through which thefastoning screws 12 pass.

Opposed to the throat-plate adjacent the needle apertures is the foot-plate, 16 ofthe presser-foot which is tiltingly secured by meansof angularly disposed pivotal pins 17 and 183 to the lower extremity of the shank; member- 19 attached to the usual presser-bar 20, asmore fully described in the United States Patent to G. E; Molyneux &3 G; S. G tchell, No-. 1,124,320, of" January 12', 1915-. The toe portion or nose of the resser-foot is wedge-shaped to form the convergent fabric-smoothing faces 21 hav ing an angular; relation to theflat lower face or'sole 22 corresponding with that of the bearing-block faces 15; to theface 6, of the throatiolate. Intermediate the smoothi'n-g --faces 21 is the guide-rib adapted to enter-the crease ofthe initial uniting seam. The substantially parallel walls lt and work-deliveryportions, 15 of the spaced guide-blocks 13 thus form, with the nose or toe portion- 23 and fabric-smoothing faces 21 of the presser-foot, a substantially Y- shaped seam-guiding channel; The footplate is provided. with, the usual, elongated needle apertures 24 and has extending from a; point intermediate the same backwardly a longitudinal, groove 25 supplementary to the throat-plate groove, 10'. i

As represented in Fig-.- 6, the two-ipieces of knitted fabric a an-d'bhavetheiroverlapped 'marginalportionsa" and Z) united by means of theseam 0; Thefabric is-introdnced into the machine opened out as represented in said figure, with the rawedged marginal portions a and b" entered in the channel 1 1-, and with the crease atthe scam in register with. the dividing rib 23 between the smoothing faces 21 of the Presser-foot. As the work. advances lengthwise of the cylinderbed under the action of the feeding mechanism, it is drawn over the divergent upper edges of the guide-blocks 13 and spread upon opposite sides of the initial scam by the-smoothing faces 21 of-the prcsser-foot in front of'thenecdle, theoverlapped margins a/"and 6 being drawn into theflaring mo uth of the-throat-plate groove 10 past the stitchingpoint fromwhich they are discharged throughthe registering clearance groove 25 in the bottom of the Presser-foot, thereby receiving paralleL lines of stitching s which are in practice connected upon the under sideby the covering lower threadi overlying theraw edges of the marginal portions a and; O of the fabric. Theguide-blocksthus afford divergent upper edges disposed matcrially above the face of-- thc throat-plate which, together, withthe faces l5v of said blocks serve to, maintain the fabric in contact with the smoothing faces 21 of. the Presser-foot, which maintains the fabric taut on both sides of the unitingseam and causes it to lie perfectly fiat and uncompressed edgewisc in, receiving the covering stitches;

By laterally adjusting the guide-blocks, not only, the parallel-sided: guidingchannel but the divergent channels between the fabric-engaging faces 15 and-21 may be adjusted in widthto accommodatefabrics of. different thicknesses; and: as these blocks are independently adjustable, they may be set for operation; upon twopieces of fabric of different thicknesses and united as previously described along their overlapping edges. In thebroader aspect of the present invention, it isobviously immaterial. whether these blocks be made separate or integral and whether they be secured upon the throat-plateor some other part of theworksupport such as the end-cap.

Havingthus set forth the nature of. the invention, What I claim herein is 1 In a sewing machine, in combination, a work-support,- a pair of laterally spaced guiding elementsproj ecting: above the I worksupport to form an open-topped seam-guiding= groove and having its delivery endbackwardly flared and downwardly inclined, and a Presser-foot having a continuous work-engagingsurface the forward portion ofwhich is backwardly flared and downwardly inclined and opposed to the downwardly ifnclined delivery ends of said guidingelements, thereby forming a continuous channel having-opposed and outwardly flaring work-smoothing faces;

2. In combination, a throat-plate for sewing machines provided with a pair of laterally spaced guide-blocks forming an opentopped seam-guiding channel having its delivery end or mouth above the face of said throat-plate flared outwardly and inclined backwardly and downwardly, and a presserfoot opposed to said channel with a nose or toe portion outwardly flared and upwardly inclined correspondingly with the walls of said guide-blocks and forming with the latter a work-stretching channel.

3. A guiding device for sewing machines comprising a throat-plate, adjustable and spaced guide-blocks sustained in fixed relation with said throat-plate, and a presserfoot opposed to said guide-blocks and having a nose or toe portion forming with said throat-plate and guide-blocks a Y-shaped seam-guiding channel whose mouth is above the upper surface of said throat-plate and whose branches are flared outwardly and inclined backwardly and downwardly.

4. A guiding device for sewing machines comprising a throat-plate having a fiat upper face with laterally spaced needle apertures and a longitudinal clearance slot in front of the same emerging into a tapered groove extending beyond the needle aper tures, guide-blocks secured upon said throatplate and spaced apart to afiord a seamguiding channel above said clearance slot and provided with divergently and backwardly inclined end-faces to form a flaring mouth for said channel, and a presser-foot having laterally spaced needle apertures and formed with a flat lower face or sole with a longitudinal groove extending from a point intermediate the needle apertures backwardly and with a nose or toe portion having upwardly inclined and angularly disposed work-smoothing faces corresponding substantially in inclination with the divergently inclined faces of said guideblocks.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE S. GATCHELL.

Witnesses:

HENRY J. MILLER, HENRY A. KORNEMANN, Jr.

copies or this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

